In the world of WordPress hosting, managed hosting comes top of the list in terms of security, speed, scalability and support. Dubbed as the Rolls Royce of WordPress hosting, WP Engine is a managed hosting company that specialises in and is dedicated solely to serving WordPress sites.
Unlike other hosting options, WP Engine provides you with a whole team of support staff working around the clock; all are experts in WordPress as well as hosting. They also have a security policy which ensures that they take on all the strain, automatically updating WordPress as and when, as well as checking all their customers’ hosting accounts for malware and other signs of hacking.
Furthermore, they employ Sucuri, a leading security company to banish any security issues that might be surrounding your site at no extra cost to you. Automated backups of your site are also included.
Data Centres in London, Tokyo and of course in Austin, Texas
But WP Engine hasn’t earned its Rolls Royce moniker for nothing: the service does come at a price. For many, the cost is their downside, and although their price tiers range upwards from £18 per month, compared to other options, they do initially appear expensive. But with the support they give, they allow you to do more of the work you’re good at: they manage WordPress so you don’t have to; they do their job and let you do yours. If you can concentrate on running your business, their service is a cost which may well pay off.
Previously operating solely from data centres in Texas, WP Engine are now bringing the benefits of managed WordPress hosting right to your doorstep, with new servers in data centres in the UK and Tokyo. In the UK, servers are based at Powergate data centre; an efficient and secure facility in Acton, west Central London. When signing up to the service, you now have the option to select which data centre serves your WordPress site.
For UK customers, the main benefit of having a London- based server is that the closer the server is to your UK customers and visitors, the faster the site can download. As a result WordPress loads quickly (at about under a second), just as WP Engine intended it to. This, of course, allows for increased traffic loads and, as a managed host, WP Engine makes sure that the speed scales rightly with the number of visitors to prevent crashes.
Page speed benefits your SEO rankings
Your SEO ranking will also benefit. As a UK customer, electing your server as London-based means your SEO results are significantly improved, as it makes your site more visible to those who search from within the UK. Not only that, but slower sites are ranked less kindly by Google and Bing, meaning your site will do better as a result of improved speed and scalability. Another important benefit to factor in is the simplification of legal matters, as you’ll be working under British jurisdiction.
Moving to WP Engine isn’t as complicated as you might think. WP Engine offers a 60 day money back guarantee and their support staff will even help you to migrate your site over from your existing host. They’ll also give you a temporary URL so that you can test drive it all before you go live. And there’s more. Pay a year in advance and you’ll get two months each year for free.
